Although my girls were happy in school, after ten years of homeschooling, I missed them. Sure, there was plenty of time to write, and my blogs were more frequent, but I spent a lot of time planning the fun things we were to do this summer. Now that summer days are dwindling down to that precious two weeks, I look back and ask myself if there was enough joy this summer?
Sure, we decluttered the house, we painted the bathroom, we finally unpacked the wall art and hung it in my room, we helped our friends move, we helped at Birthright, and St Marys' Rummage Sale, we attended Mass more often and began a weekly eucharistic adoration appointment. All these are worthy projects and have made me very satisfied, but did we forget joy this summer?
No, I must say, no, we managed to fit in joy between all this busy-ness. Maybe even because of it.
Weekday Mass and adoration, spontaneous campfires and visits to friends, lazy sunny afternoons spent in the pool, cool twight learning to ride my bike uphill with Molly running alongside (yikes!) enjoying visits with Grandpa, Abeula, Uncle Bill and cousin Mike, sharing the wonder in Christina's eyes when she received Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist for the first time, watching her watch hatching chicks at farm school, two trips to wonderful Monfort Retreat in New Hampshire if only for the day, a week with old friends on Long Island, three, (count em) inspiring writer's conferences in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, meeting famous writers face to face, learningn to take care of our new chickens, finally transplanting my favorite perennials from my home on Long Island, growing a super-abundant veggie garden (we have 300 tomatoes ripening as I write this, I am preparing to can tomatoes for the first time!) and enjoying all this abundant joy to the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (See my favorite song below)
There has been so much joy this summer, I haven't shared much of it because of intermittent computer glitches (two of three computers in this house are STILL down) and just plain lack of time.
We may not have achieved all our goals (getting to swim in the ocean, visit Mark Twain's home, Sturbridge Village, and climb a mountain as a family, though Bella did climb one at camp), we still have a week to go. . .enjoy these last precious days of summer with your children.
Sure, we decluttered the house, we painted the bathroom, we finally unpacked the wall art and hung it in my room, we helped our friends move, we helped at Birthright, and St Marys' Rummage Sale, we attended Mass more often and began a weekly eucharistic adoration appointment. All these are worthy projects and have made me very satisfied, but did we forget joy this summer?
No, I must say, no, we managed to fit in joy between all this busy-ness. Maybe even because of it.
Weekday Mass and adoration, spontaneous campfires and visits to friends, lazy sunny afternoons spent in the pool, cool twight learning to ride my bike uphill with Molly running alongside (yikes!) enjoying visits with Grandpa, Abeula, Uncle Bill and cousin Mike, sharing the wonder in Christina's eyes when she received Our Lord in the Holy Eucharist for the first time, watching her watch hatching chicks at farm school, two trips to wonderful Monfort Retreat in New Hampshire if only for the day, a week with old friends on Long Island, three, (count em) inspiring writer's conferences in New York, Philadelphia and Boston, meeting famous writers face to face, learningn to take care of our new chickens, finally transplanting my favorite perennials from my home on Long Island, growing a super-abundant veggie garden (we have 300 tomatoes ripening as I write this, I am preparing to can tomatoes for the first time!) and enjoying all this abundant joy to the soundtrack of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" (See my favorite song below)
We may not have achieved all our goals (getting to swim in the ocean, visit Mark Twain's home, Sturbridge Village, and climb a mountain as a family, though Bella did climb one at camp), we still have a week to go. . .enjoy these last precious days of summer with your children.
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